


All Together

by cordeliadelayne



Category: Primeval, Spooks | MI-5
Genre: Action/Adventure, Background Relationships, Competency, Crossover, Crossover Pairings, Drama, Gen, Minor Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:55:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28182000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cordeliadelayne/pseuds/cordeliadelayne
Summary: MI5 are on the hunt of a terrorist cell but need to turn to the ARC for help when one of their team goes missing.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	All Together

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fififolle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fififolle/gifts).



> Written as a Christmas present for the lovely fififolle who gave the prompt “The ARC getting MI5 out of a sticky situation."

“Move, move, move!”

Dimitri and Connor didn't need telling twice, running up the stairs from the platform at West Kensington High Street tube station and jumping over the turnstiles followed by a roar that had all the shop windows creaking ominously.

Captain Ryan was bringing up the rear and slid on the tiled floor as he twisted around and brought his weapon up to fire directly at the creature's head. Before he could pull the trigger the creature let out an almighty roar and the shop windows pulsed outwards, showering glass shards all over the three men.

Ryan rolled up into a ball, trying to cover his head and held his breath as the creature stomped right over him and out of the station, its head careening with overhead tiles that fell like snow all around him.

Outside someone screamed.

**Three Days Previously**

“What can you tell me?” Harry Pearce asked, moving to stand behind Tariq's station where the man was furiously typing into a keyboard that was lit up in green. “Is that government standard?” Harry continued, momentarily distracted from the matter at hand.

Tariq gulped. “Um, not exactly.”

Harry gave one of his routine long-suffering sighs and decided that the correct implementation of government property was a matter he could safely pass on to someone else to deal with.

“Progress report.”

Tariq shifted self-consciously in his seat and ignored the smirk Dimitri sent his way.

“We're tracking them to a warehouse just outside Milton Keynes. They purchased a number of items that could be used to create explosive devices.”

“We've also just had an alert from the Anomaly Research Centre,” Ruth chimed in, bringing over a tablet for Harry to look at. “Some of the items they've purchased are on the new watch list Jess sent over at the last briefing. They could be making their own detector.”

“Well that's all we bloody need,” Harry muttered. “Can you -”

He cut himself off as he saw on screen the drone that had been following the terrorist suspects fall from the sky.

“British made, was it?” Harry asked.

“Sorry, sir,” Tariq said, “I'm not sure what...”

“I want real eyes, attached to real human heads, at that location yesterday.”

He glared in Dimitri's direction and Dimitri jumped up and quickly grabbed his bag and dashed out the entrance. Better to have Harry shouting in his ear than in his face.

* * * * *

It had taken longer than Dimitri liked to navigate his way to the warehouse. By the time he got there the light was fading but this did mean that he could park his car a short distance away and, dressed all in black with night vision goggles hanging around his neck, hop over the fence to the industrial estate and make his way unnoticed to the warehouse in question.

He kept low and peered around the corner of the warehouse nearest to his target. He could hear no sounds and there wasn't even a security guard on patrol. He'd already checked in with Tariq who'd told him that all the security cameras had ceased to function at the same time as the drone fell, but that he'd send an alert on his phone if they turned back on. Still, Dimitri planned to avoid their line of sight as much as he could, if out of habit if nothing else.

He shifted his legs trying to keep himself limber and ready for anything. He checked his thigh holster for his weapon, Harry having sanctioned its use before he'd even left Thames House and tried to calm his nerves.

He blinked his eyes which were suddenly stinging. He rubbed at them which only made them worse.

“What the fuck?”

Tears started streaming down his face and he hurriedly put on his night vision goggles which would at least provide some protection from whatever was happening.

“Oh, shit.”

Dimitri tried to get out his phone and call for backup but the yellowish fog he could see rolling out of the warehouse was setting off all sorts of alarms in his head, not to mention the ARC related briefing about potential hazardous gases, and he started to turn to get further back, only to come face to face with a large stocky man in a ski mask who smacked the barrel of a gun against his head. He was unconscious before he hit the ground.

* * * * *

“What are we looking at?” Ryan asked, peering over Jess' shoulder. It felt good to be back at work, his body fitter now than it had ever been thanks to extensive physiotherapy and his own natural stubbornness.

Stephen and Cutter were away in the Highlands finally sorting themselves out which left him and the new boy, Becker, in charge. Abby, heavily pregnant, was focusing on animal care for the time being so the on-call team mainly consisted of himself, Becker and Connor and a bunch of frankly useless rejects from the regular army.

Not ideal, but Ryan wasn't going to let anything ruin his good mood today.

“An anomaly in an industrial complex just outside of Milton Keynes,” Jess told him, pushing at various buttons and then cocking her head as she listened to some information relayed through her ear piece.

“What?” Ryan asked warily, as Jess seemed to stiffen and sit up even straighter.

Jess swivelled in her chair to look up at him. “MI5 were tracking some terrorist suspects to the same area. They lost contact with one of their team ten minutes ago.”

“Do we know them?”

“Dimitri Levendis.”

Ryan cursed softly under his breath. The ARC and MI5 had cause to become entangled more times than Lester would have liked over the last few years and had finally settled into a truce of sorts, sharing relevant information and Ryan had acted as liaison between the teams while he'd been on sick leave, getting to know and respect the MI5 team for their dedication if not their sometimes reckless disregard for their own safety.

Not that he was really one to talk.

“Tell them we're on the case. Keep an open channel between us.”

“Will do,” Jess replied, turning back to her screen.

Ryan put a hand on her shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. He knew that she and Dimitri had been on a couple of dates but didn't know her well enough to guess what she might be feeling right now.

Jess didn't turn around but she did nod a couple of times and Ryan moved away only to find Lorraine, Lester's exceptionally competent PA, already on her way to Jess with a mug of tea and a plate of biscuits. He nodded in greeting and then hurried off to brief the others.

* * * * *

“The ARC team are four minutes away,” Tariq said, listening to Jess with one ear and the police with another. “Cordons have been placed around the area. SO19 on standby. Gold Command set-up in the car park of a McDonald's. Hospitals in Milton Keynes and London have been put on alert.”

“Anything from Dimitri?” Harry demanded.

“Nothing yet. Jess says no postings on social media about dinosaurs. Nothing to indicate anything has come through yet. I haven't been able to find any chatter about these people – Ruth's still looking.”

Harry thoughtfully looked over to where Ruth was in deep discussion with some of the admin staff. He knew if she had anything she'd come straight to him so he turned away from Tariq with a sigh, muttering about having to brief the Home Secretary.

Tariq kept his head down and tried to make sense of the readings in front of him. Jess had set up a remote screen so he could see everything she was doing and she could see everything he was doing. He liked to think they made a good team, and had even been about to ask her out for drinks one night last week, only she'd forgotten to turn off her end of the connection and he'd been privy to Dimitri's version of flirting which had been only made less hilarious by the fact that it had evidently worked.

“He'll be okay,” Tariq said to her through the ear piece. “He knows what he's doing.”

“I know,” Jess said. “I know. Wait – how did you...?”

Tariq was spared from coming up with an answer by the echoing shriek of the Anomaly Detection Device blaring through the comms.

“Damn it,” Jess said.

Tariq could see from the map that suddenly appeared in front of him that another anomaly had opened somewhere up in Scotland.

“Ryan, it's Jess. We have another anomaly. Approximately fives miles from where Cutter and Stephen are staying. I'm sending them the coordinates.”

“They're going to love that,” Ryan muttered. “Fine. Keep me updated. Put a chopper on standby, I'll square it with Lester.”

“Will do,” Jess replied.

“We could send some help,” Tariq suggested, cautiously butting into the conversation. There was a slight pause then Ryan's voice confirming that any assistance from MI5 would be gratefully received.

Tariq sent a message to Ruth who shot out of her seat and disappeared into Harry's office, returning a few minutes later with a smile for Tariq and headed straight to her phone where she started relaying orders. Harry came out of his office for a moment, surveyed the lay of the land, and then headed back inside as his phone began to ring.

* * * * *

Dimitri came to with a splitting headache and the feeling that he was going to be sporting a black eye in the next couple of days. This was not a completely unfamiliar problem.

He realised he was lying on the floor, then he realised that the floor felt more sandy than the typical warehouse and risked opening his eyes.

“Shit,” he whispered to himself and then closed his eyes again. Unconsciousness was probably the better option right now.

* * * * *

Ryan reported to Jess and Tariq that the team were on site and left Jenny liaising with the armed police unit. He, Becker, Connor and some of the new soldiers proceeded cautiously towards the warehouse with the strongest anomaly reading. They had special dispensation from the Prime Minister herself to go into a potentially terrorist related situation when the presence of dinosaurs was suspected; Lester called it The Lambs to Slaughter Clause and Ryan couldn't disagree.

He motioned for Becker to go with Connor and he would go with the soldiers. They nodded, all grave and silent and split up into their designated teams. He gave a moment's thought to the fact that they had all come a hell of a long way in such a short amount of time.

Then the portable ADD detector Connor had been working on went haywire and started beeping like it was about to explode.

“Connor?” Ryan asked.

“I think another's opened, I think – uh oh. There's two open at the same time.”

Connor looked up at Ryan with wide eyes.

“Ryan, it's Jess, I'm getting an odd reading here. Sit rep?”

“Looks like we've got two open anomalies. Connor and I are going to take a look. Becker, you hang back with them.”

“Understood,” Jess said. “Can you -”

Whatever Jess had been about to say was lost in static. Ryan thumbed at his radio a few times but nothing happened.

“Damn it,” Ryan muttered. “Come on, we need to see what's going on.”

Connor nervously nodded and followed Ryan's lead. They edged towards the warehouse and a half open side door. Ryan motioned for silence even though Connor hadn't said anything. He could hear some sort of snuffling noise, but no voices.

Ryan took out his weapon, told Connor to stay behind him and stepped through the door.

He scanned the area, focusing on the immediate vicinity of the anomalies, which were shining brightly in a cluster of not two, but four. As Ryan took this in he heard Connor gasp behind him and raised his gun as something skittered towards him.

“It's okay,” Connor said quickly, “herbivores. They're herbivores.”

Ryan took Connor at his word and moved his way past the small creatures the size of dogs with a beak like a turtle and two small tusks – Lystrosaurus according to Connor – and further into the room.

“Close the door,” he told Connor. “Don't want them getting out.”

“Got it,” Connor said and slammed the door harder than Ryan had meant. Ryan tensed but as no one came out of the shadows to attack them he decided that whatever had happened here, everyone involved had either left the warehouse all together or, more likely given the way their lives ran, were now stuck through one of those anomalies.

There was a sound at another door further down the warehouse and Ryan pulled up his weapon and aimed, only for Becker and some of the soldiers to move into the light.

He nodded in acknowledgement of Becker and then moved closer to the anomalies.

“Anyway that thing can tell us what year these go to?” Ryan asked, indicating the detector in Connor's hand.

“Normally, maybe,” Connor said. He shook the device and the insides rattled. “But whatever affected the radios seems to be doing something to this too. Sorry.”

“Not your fault,” Ryan said. “Might be something the terrorist did.”

“If they are terrorists,” Becker said. “MI5 hasn't actually provided any evidence of that yet.”

“Noted,” Ryan agreed. “Still, we need to find out where these things come from and get them back. Connor, what era we looking at?”

“Later Permian,” Connor said. Ryan winced, not his favourite era.

“All right, I'm going to take a quick look through each anomaly. Keep an eye on them,” he pointed towards their visitors, “and anything else that might come through. I'll be –“ he paused to programme his watch, “60 seconds in each location. We good?”

Becker nodded. “Ready when you are, sir.”

Ryan didn't hesitate any longer and walked through the first anomaly. He stepped back in less than 60 seconds, rubbing at his fingers.

“Bloody freezing,” he told them, before heading into another anomaly.

This time he was almost at the 60 second mark when he came back out. “Cutter and Stephen are dealing with that one,” he told them.

Connor grinned. “Not much of a holiday.”

“I don't know,” Ryan said, “they seem to be better than they were.”

Connor looked pleased and Ryan spared a moment to give his shoulder a comforting pat before he headed into the third anomaly. The land on the other side looked disturbingly familiar.

“I think we have a winner,” he said as he re-entered the warehouse, “but I'll just head to the last one to make sure.”

He did as he said and was immediately on the alert. Two men were fighting, swinging punches and dodging each other's blows with a concentration that made them miss Ryan's entrance. They were slipping on the sand, and almost fell several times. Ryan raised his gun into the air and fired, once.

One man was so distracted he started to sink into the sand, the other punched him in the jaw and sent him reeling.

“Nice arm,” Ryan said to Dimitri who looked up and grinned, wiping blood from his cheek.

“Fuck you,” he said, panting and leaning forward to rest his hands on his knees. Fighting on sand was not in the MI5 training handbook.

Ryan was about to respond when the anomaly behind him flared and Connor came barrelling through.

“Connor, what the hell?”

“It's about to close, you need to...” Connor started babbling but it was too late, the anomaly had already slid shut behind him. “Oh.”

“Welcome to my life,” Dimitri said with a tired grin that Ryan graced only with a roll of his eyes.

* * * * *

Time passed slowly on the other side of the anomaly. They counted off one and then two days judging by the movement of the stars and Connor's calculations on the back of a scrap of paper from Ryan's bag. They'd trained for this though, him and Connor, so they knew what to do and how to prepare themselves for predator attacks and the sudden opening of an anomaly home.

Dimitri pitched in with gusto and Ryan was glad to see that he'd remembered some of the ARC training he'd been given. The man who had been fighting with him, and was probably the cause for Dimitri's black eye, refused to give them his name, so they'd taken to calling him Bob.

Right now Bob was cooking some roots over the fire. Connor was keeping a sort of eye on him, to make sure that he didn't try and run off or use the flames against them, but Bob, whatever his history and intentions, knew that he'd never survive out there in the desert on his own.

Connor was pretty sure they were in the Triassic based on the landscape and Ryan was minded to trust his judgement. Though it didn't really matter where they were if they couldn't get home.

“How we doing for supplies?” Ryan asked Dimitri, sitting down on a rock next to the other man.

“Could be better. Could be worse.”

Ryan looked unimpressed and Dimitri grinned at him. “We're fine, Tom, don't worry. We can last a week, at least, I reckon.”

Ryan was about to respond when everywhere around them became deathly silent. Ryan knew from experience that this meant a predator was on the loose and he was up on his feet, gun in hand, looking around as Dimitri did the same.

“Conn, move over here. Bring Bob,” Dimitri hissed.

Connor was about to do as he was told when the anomaly surged into life and Bob was up and running through it before any of them had time to blink.

“Fuck,” Ryan swore. “We need to move.”

The others didn't argue with him, nor point out that they couldn't be totally sure that the anomaly lead back to the warehouse they'd come from, but their other options were thin on the ground.

Ryan set up guard at the anomaly while Connor and Dimitri hurriedly packed up their supplies. He saw movement over to the right and squinted, trying to work out what he was seeing. Whatever it was it was big and heading their way.

“Connor?”

Connor shielded his eyes from the sun. “Er, postosuchus I think. So, bad, very bad.”

Ryan didn't need telling twice, grabbing Connor by the collar and pulling him through the anomaly, confident that Dimitri would be right behind.

* * * * *

They exited the anomaly into chaos, which came as no surprise to any of them. Gathering their bearings they realised the anomaly had opened in the middle of a tube station bang in the middle of rush hour. Ryan did not envy the work Jenny was going to have to do with this.

But they didn't have time to think about any of that because just as the last of the commuters disappeared out the main entrance, the creature barrelled through the anomaly, heading right for them.

“Move, move, move!” Ryan shouted, pushing Connor in front of him.

Dimitri and Connor didn't need telling twice, running up the stairs from the platform at what Ryan could now see was West Kensington High Street and jumping over the turnstiles followed by a roar that had all the shop windows creaking ominously.

Ryan slid on the tiled floor as he twisted around and brought his weapon up to fire directly at the creature's head. Before he could pull the trigger though the postosuchus let out an almighty roar and the shop windows pulsed outwards, showering glass shards all over the three men.

Ryan rolled up into a ball and tried to cover his head and held his breath as the carnivore stomped right over him and out of the station, its head careening with overhead tiles that fell like snow all around him.

Outside someone screamed and Ryan was on his feet and running in that direction without really thinking about it. He was aware that Dimitri was at his shoulder as they each raised their guns, only to pause, in confusion, at the scene before them.

“Stand down, Captain, we've got this,” Jess said over the radio on his shoulder which had suddenly sprung to life. “And welcome home!”

Ryan did as he was told, motioning for Dimitri to do the same. The whole point of Jess was that they trusted her with their lives implicitly and he liked to make that clear to her even if she wasn't there to see it for herself.

What they could see was Stephen holding a gun on their friend Bob, a large police presence with some familiar members of MI5 dotted around the crowd and all members of the ARC dealing with the postosuchus by apparently corralling it into a large pen, a flat pack sort of invention from Connor that was the new standard operating procedure.

“I'm impressed, as ever, Jessica,” Ryan said.

Jess squawked a little and then thanked him. “Is everyone okay there?”

Ryan knew exactly who she was talking about. “Dimitri's fine. I'll bet he'll even buy you dinner later if you're good.”

“I'm always good,” Jess said with a laugh. “Tell him I'll cook for him though.”

Dimitri's smile was blinding as Ryan relayed the message and only fell when he saw Harry Pearce himself bearing down on him.

“Uh oh, boss out in the field, never a good sign. I'll catch up with you later, yeah?”

Ryan nodded. He'd just spotted James Lester marching towards him and knew there'd been no getting away from whatever joint briefings were about to be pressed on them.

“Don't suppose we can argue injury, can we?” he asked Lester.

Lester paused and looked him up and down. “Are you injured?”

“Dmitri took a bit of a blow,” he said.

Harry stopped shoulder to shoulder with Lester and stared at Dimitri with unblinking eyes. “Very well. Briefing at Thames House at 9am.”

“Make it 10,” Lester said.

Harry looked like he was going to argue and then wilted. “Very well. But you can brief the Prime Minister.”

Harry turned away, taking Dimitri with him for a quick debrief anyway, and Ryan couldn't really blame him, a lot had happened. Not that they had any idea who Bob really was but judging by the way the police were handling him, now that Stephen had taken a step back, he was definitely not in the Good Samaritan category.

“Come along,” Lester said, “Jess will want to see you for herself. And you, young man, need to see Abby. She's been quite worried.”

Connor hurried off in Abby's direction without a further thought and Lester fondly shook his head as he watched him.

“Welcome back, Tom.”

“Thank you, sir. This Bob character - “

“Bob?”

“He wouldn't give us his real name.”

“Oh, I see. Yes, part of a plot to blow up Downing Street I gather. Jess and Tariq managed to track down his associates. It appears they were being funded by dinosaur hunters.”

Ryan frowned. “Dinosaur hunters? You mean people are going through...” He trailed off. This was all they bloody needed.

“So it appears. Jess and Tariq are going to be very busy the next few months tracking down all the leads. Apparently our anomaly problem is a lot more widespread than we thought.”

Ryan had seen a lot over the years both in service of the Army and the ARC, but this really was the stupidest thing he'd heard in a long time. Jurassic Park was meant to be a warning, not a blueprint.

“I'll debrief you in the car and drop you off at home,” Lester offered as they ducked under the police cordon tape.

“And then what?” Ryan asked.

“Then, Captain? Why, then we just take each day as it comes.”

Ryan shrugged. That seemed as good a plan as any. And knowing the ARC, it would be thrown out of the window by the next day anyway.

Ryan smiled at the thought. He'd never much been interested in a quiet life, anyway, no need to start worrying about one now. Besides, he considered as he got into Lester's car and pressed a hand to Lester's knee, living one day at a time certainly had some interesting perks. And he fully intended to take advantage of them as long as he could.

Judging by Lester's hitch of breath, they were definitely on the same page there.


End file.
